Static IP

Fixed and static IP addresses

In home networks, IP addresses are usually not fixed, but they normally have some specific ranges. The router will assign a new IP address automatically if another computer joins the network, or if the configuration changes. For the most part, this works very well, and users should not notice any difference in the Internet performance or the functionality of the application if you change your IP. A static IP address, however, is the one that does not change throught the time. Normally devices that are connected to the internet depend on the router which assigns the dynamic IP address to connect to the net.

When we talk about the IP addresses of PCs, it generally refers to two types of address. One is the external IP address - which the world looks like your Internet connection. Then you have your private IP addresses internally on your home network. Even if you only have a computer in your home network, you will have a private IP that is given by the router. Private IP addresses can not be routed over the Internet and are strictly for private use. There are some possible ranges of private IP addresses, but for most home users this will be something like 192.168. *. * (Where * can be anything).

The interface of the router, for instance, is likely accessible via 192.168.0.1 - this is a private address. Your home computers could then be from 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.254. Most routers just assign internal addresses in the order in which the units are connected. The first computer that connects to the router will send a network request saying "I need an IP address, my hardware address is xxxxxx" and assigned 192.168.0.2, then the following will get the IP address number 192.168.0.3. Your external IP address is not something you can change - it will be given to you automatically by your ISP. Nonetheless, You can buy a static external IP address, but they are incredibly expensive. If you need to access your network from a remote location, you can consider getting an external dynamic address that will be automatically updated. For a home network, however, you are free to assign static addresses, which do not vary from IP to any equipment you want, so let's take a look at when you might do this.

Why do I need a static private IP address and what are the advantages?

Essentially, you need a static IP anytime you are trying to convey certain packages to certain computers or Internet devices in the home network. For example:

A local web server: To set up a web server on your home network that is accessible by anyone in the world, you need to forward the incoming requests on the port number 80 to the web server machine. If the Web server needs to restart and get a new IP router, the special rule created to forward requests on port 80 to the IP address of the old server does not work anymore, and your server is then broken.

fot Torrent remote management:Through various processes it is possible to manage a torrent client from a remote computer or a mobile phone, but this involves returning requests on port 9091 to the machine you are taking the role of the torrent client. If we learn the address of the machine and create a rule based on that, but again, if the address has to change, the remote management would not work.

Gaming: For some older routers and game settings it was compulsory to forward certain ports needed for your Xbox or PC to play multiplayer games online. The most recent ones include a method called Universal Plug and Play uPNP that gets rid of the need of establishing rules by hand.

Moreover, today you may have a choice between using a static IP address or a dynamic IP address. Importantly, to assign a dynamic address, you can still use static addresses or subnets.

Disadvantages of a static IP

The static IP must be configured manually, they often have to make some changes in the configuration of the router as well. In this sense, it is said to have a "management overload", since it is necessary to monitor the account settings. For home networks, this is usually not a problem to worry if you only have a few devices that connect to the Internet, but for large corporations and this represents a serious problem. A bank, for example, might have many problems if their clients connect to the server to execute transactions; if at some point this management overload occurs the system could colaps and the bank could lose money.

Without the correct configuration of the router it is also likely to see more errors by IP address conflict. For example, if the address 192.168.0.10 is set to a machine and the router automatically continues delivering IP addresses, then at some point to another computer would possible be given the same IP! Basically static IPs can be quite problematic.

Additionally, the phone-access router always assigns an IP address to stablish a connection. With most of the internet service providers a a dynamic address is basically assigned . This has many advantages in some applications and generally does not interfere with anything. In the era of the NSA & Co. you do not necessarily have to always use the same IP address when accessing the Internet. Even if an address in particular requires some information about the user, for example in the case of an "online order", we would not place our hands in the fire. However, thanks to traffic analysis processes available online, you can ensure that no third parties will have this information.

Remember that the static IP does not change but may be very êxpensive and may not need it if you have a home internet service. Moreover, when the dynamic IP is used, a new IP address is asign to each user some point, no matter how sticky your IP is, they are always going to change and that is for sure. The old IP address previously assigned exclusively remains at least three months reserved for you, so therefore any time you can return to the "static" address and everything can remain as before.

The dynamic and static IP addresses: This is a fairly unique feature, the router may initially assign a dynamic IP address to your static IP address. In this case, the data packets that are directed to this IP address can also be also send to the router. You can access the router creating a route on the local network (LAN) and then operate comfortably behind a terminal server or using static IP address. For outgoing connections (eg, NAT), the router uses the dynamic IP address. Indeed, for these applications usually you do not need a static address. In that way, you browse the internet anonymously, while the "pull-ups" systems as DynDNS are available.